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The World of Riven
__TOC__ The Riven campaign is set in a post-apocalyptic era where mankind has found safety on huge plateaus above a deadly mist that covers the globe. There are seven plateaus which are ruled respectively by seven kings. Feuds over the meager land they have, quarrels over ruins below, and general trade wars are common. But even through all these hostilities, they all pay homage to the great King Pontiff Echelor. He, and the royal family, have the wisdom and knowledge to keep them save from the Nether. The lost lands below the mist and all its evil creations. Legend Legend tells of a time when the four links: air, earth, fire and water was as one. Chaos they called, or Entropy, or Corruption. Then came Fate, the fifth link, who never strayed from his destiny. Fate blessed Chaos with form, and it became the world. From the five links came the five great races: Humans, Tellurian, Elphyr, Nis and Quark. They conquered the world and molded it into their liking. The Rivening As the world prospered the concordance of Fate ruled and the lurking Chaos grew weary. It’s nature was the opposite of destiny and so it persuaded the four links to shed their form once again. Since the four links was as much a part of Fate as Chaos the ordeal tore the world apart. Chaos’ un-substance bled from the Nether and started engulfing the world from the bottom up. The great races had to flee the slithering, choking, destrctive mist or fall to its mad dominance. Air, earth, fire and water, free from Chaos and Fate, became a battlefield. Both Chaos and Fate struggled to take control of the four elements, but with no avail. With no imputus or purpose, the four elements was changed. No longer responding to the calls of the five races, the world collapsed. Many of the old races was lost, gone or changed. Only mankind, blessed by destiny, had a chance to fight Chaos. The great king Echelor I, who was ever victories in his conquest, knew that in order for the world to survive, victory over Chaos was not enough. Balance had to be restored. This meant that the world had to be victories over the hold of Fate as well. He set forth the One True Law, the greatest sacrifice, and with it came peace to Riven. Riven Hundreds of years have passed since the Rivening and Riven is now a fairly peaceful place. Cosmology The planet of Riven is a mist-covered rock that orbits its sun in an extreme elliptical circle. The planet’s tumultuous history has given it a ring system that changes color depending on the position of the planet to its sun. It also has a two moons, one in the ring, and one farther away. The size of Riven is relatively small lending it a favorable gravity and in turn a colossal atmosphere. Even Nature The Rivening changed all life. Species that relied on magic was hit the hardest. Many was instantly killed, some were mutated, some simply died out. Regular beast fared better, but everything the mist touched, even the plainest beast of burden, became tainted, twisted and evil. The remaining species, the fiercest, most cunning, and hardiest fled higher and higher into the mountains. Above the blanket of chaos the world carried on, adapted and became prosperous. Civilization quickly sprang up again and wildlife prospered. Not like before, but life finds a way. Calendar Every 88 days the sun begins to wane and the weather gets colder, or wax and it gets warmer. The season is considered to be either waning or waxing since the transition towards colder weather, or warmer, is so abrupt. The calendar starts at the waning period, as the change from warm weather to cold seems like a natural end and the beginning of something new. A whole period is called a year and it totals 176 days. Language All people of the seven kingdoms speak a language simple called the human tongue or simple Common. One world think that all the words of the human tongue is made up by human words. In actuality most of the old words derived from the Elphyrian Prose, or in very rare cases Telluric Jargon. Old bloodlines have surnames that date all the way back to before the Rivening which explains their unique mishmash of Elphyr, Telluric and Common. Transport Long ago mankind traveled on foot or boat to visit other parts of the world. This has proven almost impossible since the Rivening and so a new technology has evolved out of necessity: airships. By the use of hot air and gases, expert engineers of the Leyden peninsula invented the first airships to traverse the huge spans between the plateaus. Now most kingdoms have picked up this skill. The aircrafts are propelled by huge sails and designs vary from nation to nation. Some even employ beasts to drag their airships across the mist below. Nether and its Children People of Riven know that, what lies beneath the mist, is almost never a good thing. Even so, the tales of ancient treasure, the promise of great magic or the lure of forgotten technology compels foolhardy adventures to explore the world beneath the cover from time to time… On rare occasions, adventurers like these even come back. The tales they spin of the world below is colorful and nightmarish. But no two explorers ever come back with the same recount. It is as if the mist distorts reality itself. But there is one thing they all agree upon. There is something down there. Something big. Something that slithers and squirms and grips the world with its tendrils. And it watches. They call it Nether. The thing that rules the Nethersphere. It is Chaos incarnate and bears many wicked children. Its influence creeps through the cracks in the plateau ground as well. Witches, warlocks, cultists and mutated beasts and men are not unheard of. The freedom and power that it offers can be very tempting but the cost is the complete loss of self. There are places in the world where the Nether's influence is greatest. Places where the rules of reality unhinge and evil creeps through. The four phenomenons that bring the most evil are mist, lava, lightning, and mud. Through time they have become personified as real entities. The children of Nether, the Nethergods. C’mulon C’mulon, The Slithering Lord, Prince of Chaos, the Deathless One, is the Nethergod of Mist. He is the embodiment of the mist, fog, insanity, and betrayal. He is by far most feared of the Nethergods because of the everlasting presence of the mists below. It is said that the cultists of C’mulon sacrifice their victims, by tying them to poles in the lowlands, where the mist slowly engulfs them. A practice to keep the mist at bay, but mostly the victims return as wraiths. Cultists of C’mulon often burn incense and inhale the smoke from weeds, to manifest the power of C’mulon. This gives them the power of foresight, or so they think because the whisperings of C’mulon is only meant to cause insanity. The aspect of C’mulon is hard to describe. Few have seen him and lived to tell the tale. Even fewer recounts actually match each other. They do talk of tendrils and eyes in the mist. Formless and distorted, yet cold and slimy. Fulgur Fulgur, The Herald of Destruction, Lord of Thunder, The Dragon, is the Nethergod of Lightning. He is the embodiment of thunder, lightning, electricity, hysteria, and fits of violence. Fulgur is rarely talked about, for just uttering his name might evoke him, or his volucris spawn. Wayfarers have been known to flog shipmates who merely whispered his name. As far as the common man is concerned Fulgur only brings destruction and havoc, cultism is therefore extremely rare. But a few cases of sabotage revolving his reverence have been known. Such acts of cowardice not only brings death to the cultist but might scrub the culprit's lineage from the tablets of history. The aspect of Fulgur is an impossibly big rampaging dragon. Its body glistening as sparks and lightning run along with its ethereal scales. A few instances have been recorded of Fulgur’s terrifying emergence. His great silhouette blocking out the sun, raining down thunder and lightning, only panic and death remains. Maaloch Maaloch, The Endless Smolder, The Womb, Mistress of Entropy, is the Nethergod of Lava. She is the embodiment of lava, smoke, volcanoes, explosions, loss, and destruction. She is also attributed to stress and self-destructive behavior. It is said that a cold head is better than to ride Maaloch. Maaloch is the least feared of the four Nethergods. This might stem from the fact that her presence is usually a direct reaction to war, and so there are usually knights available to fight off uninvited imps. This is not completely founded in truth, and people who have experienced her wrath in the form of volcanoes and earthquakes can contest to that. Cultists have been known to offer people to active volcanoes to appease Maaloch’s wrath. The aspect of Maaloch is a winged woman, her skin black as coal and her joints, eyes, and wrinkles red with burning lava. With each step she almosts solidifies, so she trots onward, indestructible, leaving a wake of fiery ruin. Caenul Caenul, the Countess of Blight, Behemoth, The Slumbering Queen is the Nethergod of Mud. She is the embodiment of sludge, filth, disease, apathy, and gluttony. Caenul’s influence is widely felt throughout the Seven Kingdoms and is a nuisance that knights have to deal with on a regular basis. Mudlings plague many desolated homesteads and thorps where reverence of One True Law might falter. Cultists of Caenul are called Mudeaters. The influence of Caenul makes disease and filth alluring to the weak-minded and whole communities sometimes fall to corruption. It is said that Mudeaters, inturn for losing their minds, are given an extraordinary resistance to poison and disease. It is not uncommon that families revere the Mud to save loved ones from disease. But the cost is great, and the power is fleeting, so even if spared for a time, madness and death come afterward. The aspect of Caenul is a linnorm with a hog like head. Matted hair hides her small yellow eyes. She drags her bloated body with an odd number of arms that seem to grow and reform as she moves. She has several oozing breasts and trails a lake of pestilent sludge after her. One True Law To be continued